House carpenter

Collected by Max Hunter (H-10)
For Mary C. Parler
Transcribed by Frances Majors
Sung by Mrs. Lucy Quigley
Huntsville Road, Eureka Springs,
Arkansas
September 2, 1958
Reel 253-54, Item 19
The House Carpenter
Too late, too late, my own true love,
Too late, too late, are you now;
I've lately married a house carpenter,
A nice young man is he.
Oh, won't you forsake your house carpenter,
And go along with me?
I'll take you down where the green grass grows
On the banks of the Sweet Dundee.
If I forsake my house carpenter
And go along with you,
What have you there to maintain us on,
To keep us from slavery?
I've got five ships all sailing on the sea,
And five more ready to sail,
And ninety-nine of the brightest sailor boys
All there to wait upon thee.
She laid her baby on the bed,
And kisses she give three,
Saying, stay there, stay there, my dearest sweet babe,
And keep your papa company.
She dressed herself in the finest of silk,
And away together they roamed;
And every town that they drove through,
She shined like the glittering gold.
She had not sailed upon the deep
More weeks, I'm sure, not three,
Till this lady begin to weep and mourn,
And she wept most bitterly.
Oh, is it for my gold you weep,
Or is it for my fee?
Or is it for your house carpenter
And your sweet little babe?
It's neither for your gold I weep,
Nor neither for your fee;
It's all for the sake of my house carpenter
And my sweet little babe.

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Collected by Max Hunter (H-10)
For Mary C. Parler
Transcribed by Frances Majors
Sung by Mrs. Lucy Quigley
Huntsville Road, Eureka Springs,
Arkansas
September 2, 1958
Reel 253-54, Item 19
The House Carpenter
Too late, too late, my own true love,
Too late, too late, are you now;
I've lately married a house carpenter,
A nice young man is he.
Oh, won't you forsake your house carpenter,
And go along with me?
I'll take you down where the green grass grows
On the banks of the Sweet Dundee.
If I forsake my house carpenter
And go along with you,
What have you there to maintain us on,
To keep us from slavery?
I've got five ships all sailing on the sea,
And five more ready to sail,
And ninety-nine of the brightest sailor boys
All there to wait upon thee.
She laid her baby on the bed,
And kisses she give three,
Saying, stay there, stay there, my dearest sweet babe,
And keep your papa company.
She dressed herself in the finest of silk,
And away together they roamed;
And every town that they drove through,
She shined like the glittering gold.
She had not sailed upon the deep
More weeks, I'm sure, not three,
Till this lady begin to weep and mourn,
And she wept most bitterly.
Oh, is it for my gold you weep,
Or is it for my fee?
Or is it for your house carpenter
And your sweet little babe?
It's neither for your gold I weep,
Nor neither for your fee;
It's all for the sake of my house carpenter
And my sweet little babe.